Lending platform BigWin Infotech gets NBFC-P2P certification from RBI

Fintech start-up, BigWin Infotech (PaisaDukan.com) has received its Certificate of Registration (CoR) from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), paving the way for the launch of its Financial Platform – PaisaDukan.com, a release from the company said today. Though the company received an in-principle approval from RBI to set up an NBFC Peer-to-Peer lending platform in May, the operations could only commence after the firm received a CoR from the central bank. The RBI issued those guidelines last October, to register and accredit P2P lending firms that resell loans from individuals who have money to invest.

The platform facilitates loans for the duration of minimum 6 months, and in subsequent multiples of months of 12,18, 24 and 36 months, with 36 months being the maximum tenure. In terms of interest rates, APR (Annual Percentage Rate) ranges from 12%(min) to 24%(max). The company writes on its website that it will handle the servicing of loans on behalf of matched borrowers with investors and provide legal and recovery support, principal protection, as also evaluation of credit risk by a dedicated risk assessment team consisting of qualified CAs (Charted Accountants).

In May, the Mumbai-based company announced that their platform is ready and that it is going to launch its marketplace PaisaDukan.com along with mobile app shortly. The company also announced that it has raised Rs 1.5 crore from a group of undisclosed angel investors to expand its workforce.

BigWin now becomes the third lender to operate in the NFC-P2P space. In June, OMLP2P became the second P2P lender to get RBI’s nod for NBFC-P2P certification, while In May, Faircent became the first such platform to receive this certification from the central bank.

RBI regulations

According to the guidelines put out by the RBI last year, the P2P platforms will act as only as an online intermediary and not raise deposits. These platforms will only act as a facilitator between different parties, and cannot provide any credit enhancement or credit guarantee. The RBI also directs that these companies cannot cross-sell other any product except for loan specific insurance products, and are not permitted international flow of funds. Also, the P2P lending platforms are supposed to undertake due diligence on the participants including credit assessment and risk profiling of the borrowers and disclose the same to their prospective lenders. They will also have to take prior and explicit consent of participants to access their credit information. The guidelines add that, the platforms will have to provide assistance in disbursement and repayments of loan amount and render services for recovery of loans originated on the platform.